Team Canada brings home silver from the World Ringette Championships.   Finland claims world title with a win and a tie in two-game championship series

Helsinki, Finland - November 18, 2000 - Despite an intense effort, Team Canada was not able to hold onto their world title at the World Ringette Championships today in Helsinki, Finland. In an extremely fast-paced game, Finland came out ahead after scoring the tying goal with just under two minutes left in the game. For a chance at gold, Team Canada would have had to pull off a win in order to force the series into a gold medal determining overtime period, after losing 5-4 to Finland earlier this week in the first of a two-game championship series.

Edmonton's Megan Todd, who was also named MVP of the game for the second time in this series, opened up the scoring for Canada with two goals in the first period. Assists came from Sarah Miller from Lively (Ontario), Edmonton's Jennifer Willan and Sudbury's Karen Duguay. Finland responded with two goals, one in the first period and one in the second. Canada took two more goals in the second period - the first by Willan, assisted by Edmonton's Maria McKenzie, and the second by Miller, assisted by Todd.

Going into the third period, Canada was up 4-3, but just under 10 minutes into the period, Finland managed to tie things up. With less than seven minutes left in the period, Danielle Hobday from Dugald (Manitoba) gave Canada the lead with assists from Miller and Todd. Canada's hopes of forcing the series into an overtime period for a chance at gold were dashed when Finland tied things up with less than two minutes left in the game.

Total shots on goal were Canada - 31 and Finland - 23.

"We were playing better and we deserved this game, it is very disappointing to lose the World Championship on a tied game," said Megan Todd. "We feel that we are a better team and with this in mind, it makes losing very hard to accept. They probably played as well as they could, we had early momentum, but lost it after a couple of bad bounces."

"The whole team played with heart, every single player gave everything they had out there, yet we still came up short," said Lethbridge's Deb Marek, Head Coach of Team Canada. "The international game is extremely fast and most Canadians have not seen international play since we last hosted the World's in 1990. We look forward to showcasing this amazing game in 2002 and updating people's minds on how ringette can be played and highlighting how much the sport has developed over the last decade."

In the bronze medal match earlier today, Team USA downed Sweden 9-0 to come away with the bronze medal. Manitoba's Danielle Reid, who played for Team USA was named the MVP of the game.

Canadians wanting to send best wishes and congratulate Team Canada on winning silver can do so by sending an e-mail to teamcanada@ringette.ca.

Ringette is a 37-year-old Canadian invention that has become one of the fastest team sports on ice, involving tens of thousands of girls and women, and hundreds of boys, all across Canada. Internationally, it is played in half a dozen other countries around the world.